Journal Staff

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 18th Scandinavian Conference on Image Analysis, SCIA 2013, held in Espoo, Finland, in June 2013. The 67 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 132 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on feature extraction and segmentation, pattern recognition and machine learning, medical and biomedical image analysis, faces and gestures, object and scene recognition, matching, registration, and alignment, 3D vision, color and multispectral image analysis, motion analysis, systems and applications, human-centered computing, and video and multimedia analysis

Halperin-Lubensky-Ma effect in type-I superconducting films

In this note we employ concurrently techniques of generalized $zeta$-functions and compactification methods introduced in previous publications, to study the Halperin-Lubensky-Ma theory of induced weak first-order phase transitions applied to type-I superconducting films. We obtain closed formulas to the critical temperature and to the size temperature as functions of the film thickness.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex

Bubble formation in ϕ6\phi^6 potential

Scalar field theory with an asymmetric potential is studied at zero temperature and high-temperature for $\phi^6$ potential. The equations of motion are solved numerically to obtain O(4) spherical symmetric and O(3) cylindrical symmetric bounce solutions. These solutions control the rates for tunneling from the false vacuum to the true vacuum by bubble formation. The range of validity of the thin-wall approximation (TWA) is investigated. An analytical solution for the bounce is presented, which reproduces the action in the thin-wall as well as the thick-wall limits.Comment: 22 pag

Superheavy Dark Matter with Discrete Gauge Symmetries

We show that there are discrete gauge symmetries protect naturally heavy X particles from decaying into the ordinary light particles in the supersymmetric standard model. This makes the proposal very attractive that the superheavy X particles constitute a part of the dark matter in the present universe. It is more interesting that there are a class of discrete gauge symmetries which naturally accommodate a long-lived unstable X particle. We find that in some discrete Z_{10} models, for example, a superheavy X particle has lifetime \tau_X \simeq 10^{11}-10^{26} years for its mass M_X \simeq 10^{13}-10^{14} GeV. This long lifetime is guaranteed by the absence of lower dimensional operators (of light particles) couple to the X. We briefly discuss a possible explanation for the recently observed ultra-high-energy cosmic ray events by the decay of this unstable X particle.Comment: 9 pages, Late

Saddle point solutions in Yang-Mills-dilaton theory

The coupling of a dilaton to the $SU(2)$-Yang-Mills field leads to interesting non-perturbative static spherically symmetric solutions which are studied by mixed analitical and numerical methods. In the abelian sector of the theory there are finite-energy magnetic and electric monopole solutions which saturate the Bogomol'nyi bound. In the nonabelian sector there exist a countable family of globally regular solutions which are purely magnetic but have zero Yang-Mills magnetic charge. Their discrete spectrum of energies is bounded from above by the energy of the abelian magnetic monopole with unit magnetic charge. The stability analysis demonstrates that the solutions are saddle points of the energy functional with increasing number of unstable modes. The existence and instability of these solutions are "explained" by the Morse-theory argument recently proposed by Sudarsky and Wald.Comment: 11 page

A Geometry of the Generations

We propose a geometric theory of flavor based on the discrete group $(S_3)^3$, in the context of the minimal supersymmetric standard model. The group treats three objects symmetrically, while making fundamental distinctions between the generations. The top quark is the only heavy quark in the symmetry limit, and the first and second generation squarks are degenerate. The hierarchical nature of Yukawa matrices is a consequence of a sequential breaking of $(S_3)^3$.Comment: 10 pages, 1 EPS figure as uuencoded tar-compressed file, uses psfig.st

Extracting Br(omega->pi^+ pi^-) from the Time-like Pion Form-factor

We extract the G-parity-violating branching ratio Br(omega->pi^+ pi^-) from the effective rho-omega mixing matrix element Pi_{rho omega}(s), determined from e^+e^- -> pi^+ pi^- data. The omega->pi^+ pi^- partial width can be determined either from the time-like pion form factor or through the constraint that the mixed physical propagator D_{rho omega}^{mu nu}(s) possesses no poles. The two procedures are inequivalent in practice, and we show why the first is preferred, to find finally Br(omega->pi^+ pi^-) = 1.9 +/- 0.3%.Comment: 12 pages (published version

Theory of the first-order isostructural valence phase transitions in mixed valence compounds YbIn_{x}Ag_{1-x}Cu_{4}

For describing the first-order isostructural valence phase transition in mixed valence compounds we develop a new approach based on the lattice Anderson model. We take into account the Coulomb interaction between localized f and conduction band electrons and two mechanisms of electron-lattice coupling. One is related to the volume dependence of the hybridization. The other is related to local deformations produced by f- shell size fluctuations accompanying valence fluctuations. The large f -state degeneracy allows us to use the 1/N expansion method. Within the model we develop a mean-field theory for the first-order valence phase transition in YbInCu_{4}. It is shown that the Coulomb interaction enhances the exchange interaction between f and conduction band electron spins and is the driving force of the phase transition. A comparison between the theoretical calculations and experimental measurements of the valence change, susceptibility, specific heat, entropy, elastic constants and volume change in YbInCu_{4} and YbAgCu_{4} are presented, and a good quantitative agreement is found. On the basis of the model we describe the evolution from the first-order valence phase transition to the continuous transition into the heavy-fermion ground state in the series of compounds YbIn_{1-x}Ag_{x}Cu_{4}. The effect of pressure on physical properties of YbInCu_{4} is studied and the H-T phase diagram is found.Comment: 17 pages RevTeX, 9 Postscript figures, to be submitted to Phys.Rev.

A Step Beyond the Bounce: Bubble Dynamics in Quantum Phase Transitions

We study the dynamical evolution of a phase interface or bubble in the context of a \lambda \phi^4 + g \phi^6 scalar quantum field theory. We use a self-consistent mean-field approximation derived from a 2PI effective action to construct an initial value problem for the expectation value of the quantum field and two-point function. We solve the equations of motion numerically in (1+1)-dimensions and compare the results to the purely classical evolution. We find that the quantum fluctuations dress the classical profile, affecting both the early time expansion of the bubble and the behavior upon collision with a neighboring interface.Comment: 12 pages, multiple figure

Experimental Evidence of Giant Electron - Gamma Bursts Generated by Extensive Atmospheric Showers in Thunderclouds

The existence of a new phenomena - giant electron-gamma bursts is established. The bursts are generated in thunderclouds as a result of the combined action of runaway breakdown and extensive atmosphere showers (RB-EAS). The experiments were fulfilled at the Tien Shan Mountain Scientific Station using EAS-Radio installation. This specially constructed installation consists of a wide spread EAS trigger array and a high time resolution radiointerferometer.Comment: 30 pages, 16 figure